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AjtL^oe, vr.N^.3 ana- coviXParvY ' 



HOUSE 

PAINTING 



/j: 1 800 



F. W. DEVOE & COMPANY 
NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 



> 



A^ 



COPYRIGHT 1899 BY F. W. DEVOE & COMPANY 



TWO COPIES RECEIVED 






CHAUNCEY HOLT, PRINTER, 27 ROSE ST., N.Y. 



SECOND COPY, 



THE SKIMMER 



Sometimes a reader likes to skim over a book, 
pick out the nicest parts, and read them first; then, 
if he thinks it worth his while, begin at the begin- 
ning and take it all in. 

The prettiest nugget, in this, is a practical joke 
by a painter in Paris fifty years ago. He got a Gold 
Medal and the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor 
for it. That is on page 31. 



CONTENTS 



L WHAT PAINT IS FOR 

A Mistake, ..... o.. 9 
Home and Business Home, . . . .10 

Friends and Enemies 10 

The Principal Use of Paint, . , . . 11 

Be Generous With It, 12 

ABC, 12 

II. WHAT PAINT SHOULD BE 

Waterproof, .13 

Durable, . . . . . , . « 13 

Beautiful, 14 

Cheap, 15 

III. WHAT PAINT TO USE 

Look Back and Ahead, 20 

Lead and Oil, ....... 20 

Lead and Oil Difficulties, . . . .23 

Factory-Work, ....... 26 

Secret Paints, 27 

White-Lead, 28 

Zinc Indoors, 29 

Zinc Outdoors, 30 

Lead and Zinc, 33 



VI CONTENTS 

Success of Adulterated Paints and Leads, . 33 

Devoe Lead and Zinc, 34 

The Right Materials, 34 

Adulterants, 36 

The Proportions Right Enough, . . .41 
Setting Up a Higher Standard, . . .41 

The Policy of It, 42 

Grinding Paint By Machinery, . . .43 

Getting Your Tints 46 

How Durable Are They, 47 

Ease of Painting, 47 

The Skill Required, 48 

The Risk of a Job, 50 

The Painter's Interest, 54 

Of All The Readymade Paints, ,. . .54 
Painting and Making Paint, . . . .56 
Our Title to Confidence, 56 



YOU ARE PROBABLY ONE OF 'EM 



This book is for two sorts of men ; yes, three. 

Some think they can't paint, because they have 
never done such a thing. The book is for them. 

Now and then a man feels so cock-sure of what- 
ever he thinks he knows, that people say ** he knows 
it all." It is a sly way of saying " he don't know 
what an awful lot of things there are in the world 
that he don't know." There's a little in it for him. 

But the bulk of Americans, painters or not, feel 
able to do a good-enough job with the help of a 
little schooling. Here's the schooling. 



HOUSE-PAINTING. 



WHAT PAINT IS FOR. 



A MISTAKE. 

As you pass your neighbor's house, if the 
paint looks fresh and attractive, you say to 
yourself: "Lucky dog! the market is always 
on his side." Which means that Jones is a 
man of good sense. That's what luck is: 
good sense. Success always comes, if it lasts, 
of good sense. If his paint is shabby, you 
say: "Poor fellow! the world is too much 
for him." 

Paint is as true a sign, as there is, of thrift 
and unthrift. Thrift is the habit of doing 
things that pay ; unthrift is the habit of doing 
the other things. The habit of thrift is the 
gift of seeing things, as they are, in a good 
clear light. The unthrifty habit is not being 
quite sure, and waiting. The man who sees 
right, and goes quick, is the one who gets 
there, and takes his choice. The other one 
takes his time and gets left. Fresh paint is 
the sign of one; the need of it marks the 
other. 

But this is the poorest reason for painting. 
If Smith is slack he won't become brisk by 



You estimate men 
by their paint 



Men estimate you 
by your paint 



Thrift and 
unthrift 



Paint and look 
prosperous 



lO 



Paint and be 
prosperous 



The mistake 



The fact 



One's most 
precious property 



Object of life 

and dearer 

than life 

But perishable 



Paint keeps 
wood as salt 
keeps meat 



merely painting his house; if he is behind, 
it'll take more than paint to set him ahead. 
It is only a sign of the property-getting and 
property-keeping faculty ; not a begetter of it, 
or a substitute for it. 

The real reason, for painting this year, is 
not to look prosperous, but to be so. It pays. 
It pays to look prosperous too, but to be so 
first. If your house and outbuildings and 
fences are cheerful and bright, you have done 
your best for both your estate and your 
standing. 

What mistake do we mean, then? It is 
thinking of paint as a luxury. That is the 
poorest recommendation for it. 

Paint is a small and safe investment, bear- 
ing a high rate of interest. 

HOME AND BUSINESS HOME. 

The most precious property anyone has is 
his domestic home, and the next is his busi- 
ness home. A farmer's business home is the 
rest of his buildings ; a merchant's his store ; 
a mechanic's his shop. 

The house, that shelters his business, made 
and sustains his domestic home. 

It is built of wood, and stands in sunshine, 
dew and rain, subject to decay, unless pro- 
tected with paint. 

FRIENDS AND ENEMIES. 

Dry wood, in our part of the world, keeps 
sound and whole, till rotted with water or 



II 



burnt with fire. We insure against water by 
paint ; against fire, by sharing our losses with 
others. 

Rain beats on and into the roof and sides, 
soaks in, runs down, backs up, and streams 
in. Snow stops the eaves, and the melting of 
snow is worse than the beating of rain. Dew 
steals in while we are asleep ; and the sun, in 
the morning, steams it out. Perhaps dew, 
that we do not think of as injuring wood, is 
worse than storms ; because it is busy all the 
time. 

We are always in danger of water ; fire, we 
hope to avoid. We keep the first enemy out 
with paint ; if the other gets in, insurance pays 
part of the damage. 

THE PRINCIPAL USE OF PAINT. 

A good enough reason for painting, indoors 
or out, is for looks ; but the great big reason 
indoors, as women know best, is to save nine- 
tenths of the labor of keeping the house in a 
decent condition of cleanliness; outdoors, to 
keep wood from rotting, and^iron from rusting. 

We paint indoors for cleanliness, bright- 
ness and beauty. 

We paint outdoors to resist the weather, to 
protect the building, and to make it last. 

The real use of paint, then — its use to every 
man who owns a house — is to save expense 
and loss. 



Water in 
every form 



Water-insurance 



Indoors and 
outdoors 



Saves labor 



Saves loss 



Expense and loss 



12 



Be generous 
with it 



Generosity cheap 



Begin at the 
beginning 



BE GENEROUS WITH IT, 

Paint is a money and property saver, not 
an expense. Be generous with it. Paint 
when your property needs it, use good paint, 
and paint right. 

But paint and painting are different things. 
Good painting costs very little more money 
than poor painting ; pay it ; be glad to pay 
it. But you can buy the best of paint for less 
money than some poor paint. High cost is 
no sign of goodness ; low cost is no sign of 
cheapness. 

A, B, C. 
If you have read so far, you are on your 
way to a knowledge of painting and paint 
that few of us really have; and you have 
some clue to the rest of the book. We shall 
offer you nothing but what you need, to do 
good work : to paint intelligently : one thing 
at a time in the easiest order : the a b c of 
the business. The a b c is the most im- 
portant part of anything. Get the right start. 



II. 



WHAT PAINT SHOULD BE. 



WATERPROOF. 

The business of paint is to turn water. 
Good paint turns water. It keeps wood from 
rotting, and iron from rusting, by turning 
water. To turn water, it must have no hole 
in it, no spongy places. 

One coat of paint is sure to have imperfec- 
tions in it ; so we put on two coats. Two coats 
may have imperfections, so we put on three. 
The three unite to form one. There is not 
likely to be a hole or spongy part in this thick 
coat consisting of three successive thin ones. 

DURABLE. 

That is not the whole of the reason for 
painting three coats : to have no hole in the 
paint. The rest of the reason is that paint 
wears out; we want it thick, to last. 

Each coat must be thin, to dry ; not merely 
to dry outside, on top, but to dry through and 
underneath as well as on top, to make a uni- 
form coat all through ; so that when the three 
coats unite to form one, that one shall be dry 
all through, and of one uniform substance all 
through. 

Paint is a rubbery coat of oil and pigment.* 

* Pigment means the solid part of paint, the part not 
liquid. Remember the word; we shall use it again. 



Turn water 



No hole in it 



Hence three 
thin coats 



to form one 
thick one 



Thick to wear 



Thin to dry 



One uniform sub- 
stance all through 



Thick, rubbery 
coat 



H 



Fine feathers don't 
make fine birds 



Adulterants 



Durability first 



Color next 



The oil for a durable rubbery coat is linseed ; 
the pigments are various. Every part must 
be right, to make durable paint ; and the mar- 
ket is full of inferior stuff with superior 
names, to cover adulterations and substitu- 
tions. 

The genuine things can be got; but they 
cost a certain amount of money. The false 
pretend to be true ; cost less ; and commonly 
pass for true, with people who buy cheap stuff. 
It is easy, you see, for a man who mixes his 
own paint to use wrong materials. And, if 
he buys his paint ready-made, there are good 
and bad ready-made paints, as well as good 
and bad paint materials. 

Good means durable ; bad means something 
wrong; but good means durable only, no 
more. When we say good paint, we mean 
paint that turns water this year, next year, 
and next after that : we mean durable water- 
proof paint, no matter about the color. The 
goodness of paint is its durability, not its 
color. 

Color comes next : it is a totally different 
subject: important enough in its way ; but its 
way is not wear of paint or turning of water. 



May as well 
look good, too 



A matter of taste 



BEAUTIFUL. 



Paint may as well be agreeable too; this 
depends altogether on color. 

Houses used to be painted white, inside and 
out, with green blinds. We all agree now 



15 



that white is too bright. It was a natural 
thing to do, in pioneer times, when painted 
houses were rare, to make them conspicuous. 
White is the most conspicuous paint ; and the 
greener w^e are, the more we go to extremes. 
A Fiji Islander, having our houses and paint, 
might paint everything purple and green. 
Which is worse than white. 

A civilized man, especially woman, consid- 
ers several things besides the sensation of see- 
ing a color or colors together. The choice of 
colors belongs to taste ; but taste considers the 
circumstances. A color that suits a flower, 
or a woman's dress, may not suit a house ; a 
color that suits a grand house, may not suit a 
modest one ; and a color that suits a conspicu- 
ous house, may not suit one in a sheltered 
position. 

It is usual, now, to paint two or three 
colors : The body of some light tint, and the 
trim a harmonious solid color.* There is a 
fashion in house paint, as in everything else ; 
but, generally, it keeps within the limits of 
suitableness and economy. Women generally 
have better color-sense than men ; and no one 
can put color-sense into or get it out of a 
book. It is greatly a matter of personal taste. 



Consider the 
circumstances 



The fashion 



CHEAP. 

There is a beautiful color, ultramarine, that 

* Solid color means, in the language of painters, a color 
full strength: one to which no white has been added, 
A tint is a color reduced by white. 



Absurd 



i6 



Ditto 



Impracticable 



It has got to be 
cheap 



Plainer 



Commonplace 



Something new 



You won't 
believe it 



What books 
are for 



costs about twice its weight in gold ; of 
course, it is not much used in any sort of 
painting. Cadmium yellow, that costs $5 a 
pound is sparingly used in carriage-painting, 
not in house-painting. Paris-green costs 
little enough, by the pound, but is so trans- 
parent that several coats are required ; which 
costs too much for house-painting. We make 
of it nearly a million pounds a year, to kill 
potato-bugs with ; but sell very little for 
paint. It is an exquisite paint for blinds, 
when properly applied, but rather impractic- 
able, on account of the cost of putting on 
man}^ coats. 

It is nothing against a paint to say it is 
low priced. One might, with equal reason, 
object to fire-insurance, because the premium 
is low ; we get it as low as we can. 

The gist of this chapter, so far, is this : the 
first cost of a house-paint has got to be low, 
or it will not be used. Which is right and 
true. It is, however, only half of the truth. 
You knew it before ; we might have left it 
out. The other half is important because you 
don't know it. A book that tells what you 
knew before, is of no account ; you want some- 
thing new. 

But there is a difficulty in telling you what 
you don't know already : 3^ou won't believe 
it. And yet what books are for is to tell 
what you don't know. If you read nothing 
but what you know, you don't learn anything. 



17 



to paint 



The important half of this chapter is not so Here it is 

familiar : the cost of a paint is only one part 
of its being cheap ; the other part is how long 
is it going to last. 

You ma3^ happen to know it : nine-tenths of The weii-to-do and 

improvident 

US don't. The tenth, that know it, are well-to- 
do. Because they distinguish between good- 
looking things and good ones. Nine-tenths 
are not well-to-do, because they throw their 
money away upon gew-gaw things that don't 
cost much. 

The cost of painting a house is, say, $20 The lesson applied 
for paint and $40 for putting it on — the cost, 
for putting it on, is as much for poor paint as 
for good. The cost of the whole job is $60 : 
Sio a year, if it lasts six years ; $15 a 3^ear, if it 
lasts four years ; $30 a year, if it lasts two 
years ; $60 a year, if it lasts one year. 

There is paint that lasts one year ; there is 
paint that lasts six years. The paint, that 
lasts six years, is cheap : and the paint that 
lasts one year is dear. A paint that wears 
out in a year, no matter how little it costs, is 
not cheap : it is dear. 

Now you knovv^ what we mean by a paint 
being really cheap : it is paint that costs 
short and lasts long. Is there any such 
paint ? Yes, there is ; but that comes later. 
Now don't understand that the paint, that 
costs least, lasts longest. The price of a paint 
has nothing to do wdth the wear of it ; still 
there is paint that costs no more, even less, 



The lesson is 
practical 



Stated again 



with a caution 



i8 



A mistake 



Three 
requirements 



than usual paint, and wears twice as long. 
A fraud There is low-price paint, with which the 

first cost of a job is high : because of some 
cheating in weight or measure, or because it 
lacks body,* requires more coats. So the 
price of a paint in the store has little to do 
with the cost of your job. 

There is also paint, the first cost of which 
is low, which is dear : because it wears out so 
soon. So the cost of j^our job has nothing to 
do with its cheapness or dearness. 

And yet the store-price of house-paint must 
be low, or the paint will not get used ; the 
first cost of your paint must be fair (not 
high), or the paint is a fraud ; and the paint 
must be durable, or there is some mistake on 
somebody's part. 
Go by the last one Inexperienced people go by store-price ; ex- 
perienced men, who think they know about 
paint or business, go by first cost, and plume 
themselves on their wisdom; those, who really 
know either paint or business, go by the wear 
— and they find out. 
Cheap Let us explain the word-meaning of 

'' cheap." 

It has four meanings : 

( 1 ) well worth its cost 

(2) costs little 

(3) both (i) and (2) 

(4) good-for-nothing 



• Body means covering-capacity, hiding-capacity, non- 
transparency ; can't see through the paint. 



19 



Our meaning is the third : the less paint 
costs, and the longer it lasts, the cheaper it is. 

But there is such a thing as cheap paint, in 
the second sense, to the maker; and cheap, in 
the fourth, to the house ov/ner. ■ It is a 
poverty-breeder. If you are a poor man, we 
venture to guess the cause : you can't resist 
the temptation of " cheap " in the second and 
fourth of those meanings : your money goes 
for humbugs. 

Is there anything new, in this chapter, to 
you ? The paint, that is really cheap, costs 
less than usual paint, and lasts twice as long : 
there is such a paint. We told you you 
wouldn't believe it. Better not read any fur- 
ther, may be. You either see what this book 
is for, or you don't. It is to teach you paint 
and economy : paint and prosperity. 



Poverty-breeder 



Humbugs as bad 
as whiskey 



Can you take 
the lesson 



III. 

WHAT PAINT TO USE, 

LOOK BACK AND AHEAD. 

Part I In the first part of the book you learned 

that the use of paint is to save expense and 
loss, and look nice ; that it pays to paint as 
soon as a building needs paint, and paint 
well. 
Part II In the second part, you learned that paint 

should turn water, continue to turn it year 
after year, that the way to have it turn water 
and to wear, is to make it of genuine stuff, 
not bogus ; that bogus abounds ; that paint 
should look nice too ; must be cheap, as we 
commonly mean by cheap ; and ought to be 
cheap by the year, which is over the heads of 
nine-tenths of people ; that poverty comes oi 
being misled by good-for-nothing ''cheap.'* 
Are you ready Now you comc to the heart of the book, 

what to do and not do, in getting your paint 
and putting it on. One thing at a time. 

LEAD AND OIL. 

Public opinion Lead and oil comes first, because it ranks 

first in public opinion. Public opinion, how- 
ever, is never quite right ; for it is the opinion \ 
of average men. We want the opinion of 
those who know all about it — it is the oldest 
of paints and perfectly known — and we want 



21 



the opinion of those who also know what else 

there is in the world. 

Lead and oil was the only available white, z^^f^J^^tisr^ 
for about two hundred years. It was a good 
system— no doubt about that. But zinc has 
<^ome into use. To call lead and oil the best 
to-day, because it was the best a hundred 
years ago, and is still approved by those who 
know little or nothing of zinc, is just like 
public opinion— always behind the times. 

There are millions of dollars invested in Lead in use 
lead, naturally, doing all it can to keep up the 
old system of painting. Money invested in 
anything always resists a change from that 
thing ; it is human nature. And these mil- 
lions can do a great deal to maintain an 
established business. 

Nevertheless, the consumption of lead in 
the United States is about 250,000 barrels 
against 325,000 barrels of zinc : about 75,000 
more barrels of zinc than of lead. Notwith- Big odds 

standing this following pile of facts: (i) 
that lead is old and zinc is new ; (2) that lead 
has a large active capital while zinc seems to 
have little money doing anything for it, may 
be it isn't necessary, may be it sells itself ; (3) 
that lead has the advertising ; (4) that the 
ancient custom of painters prevails, of say- 
ing, "I paint lead and oil"; (5) that the 
ancient opinion of people prevails, ''lead and 
oil is the paint "; (6) that although more zinc 
is used than lead, the benefit goes to lead, and 



22 



Zinc has won 



Paint record of 

twenty or thirty 

years 



Zinc in all 
readymade paints 



Zinc in shop-mixed 
paints 



zinc is apparently not much known or thought 
of— nevertheless more zinc than lead gets 
used ! 

We submit : This review of the progress of 
zinc, and decline of lead, bears hard on the 
question : which is the better system ? With 
all the circumstances in favor of lead, zinc is 
winning the business; has won already more 
than half of it. Evidently lead and oil is not 
the best paint, and hasn't been, twenty or 
thirty years. 

Let us see what has happened these twenty 
or thirty years in this country of ours. The 
country has doubled in people and wealth; 
and the business of painting has vastly more 
than doubled. As happens in sudden de- 
velopments, much of the growth has been 
out of the usual lines. All trades have been 
pushed with excess of work; unapprenticed 
men have been employed to fill the demand ; 
the standards of work have not altogether im- 
proved ; men have taken to doing their own 
house-painting, etc., to some extent ; and 
ready-made paints have been made by the 
many millions of gallons. These ready-made 
paints are of all degrees of goodness and bad- 
ness (and zinc is in most of them.) 

Lead and oil has always been known to 
chalk off, to powder away : the outside wears 
out and goes off ; in about three years in the 
best of jobs (lead and oil) the whole coat is 
more chalky than rubbery. Ready-made 



23 



paints did not chalk off — may be zinc pre- 
vented the chalking. The painters tried a 
proportion of zinc with their lead and dimin- 
ished the chalking. So they adopted zinc. 

You see where the zinc goes, it goes into 
ready made paints and into painter-made paints 
also. And it does good service wherever it 
goes. It goes into readymade paints to harden 
the lead, keep it from chalking and therefore 
make the paint wear longer. It goes into 
shop-mixed paint, '' lead and oil," because all 
good painters want their work to be sure of 
lasting three j^ears. Lead and oil was a good- 
enough paint before zinc came in ; it is good 
enough yet, with the proper mixture of zinc. 
The standard is higher now. Lead and oil is 
surer to last three years than formerly ; it has 
been known to last several years in good con- 
dition. But that was a mixture with zinc. 
" Lead and oil " is only the name of it. 



You see where it 
goes, and why 



The standard 
is higher now 



The effect of zinc 



LEAD AND OIL DIFFICULTIES. 

The first difficulty is adulterations; which Adulterations 
can all be avoided by getting supplies from 
the very best sources ; in no other way. 

Linseed oil is sometimes adulterated, but oii is adulterated 
there is no difficulty in getting it right, 
whether raw or boiled, if you insist on having 
it pure. 

Turpentine drier is often made with too 
much turpentine. This amounts to adultera- 
tion of oil. 



Excess of turpen- 
tine in the drier 



24 



"Pure Lead" 

ground in oil 

contains water 



Pigments and col- 
ors in oil grossly- 
adulterated 



A paint store keeps 

at least two grades 

of colors 



How do you know 

what grade you 

are buying 



What is called pure lead (ground in oil) is 
in most paint stores : it is pure except it often 
contains a little water. The water has not 
been put in, but was not dried out in the 
making. It does no harm except flatting* 
the paint in spots after it has been applied to 
your house. The amount of water is small. 
The reason for leaving it in, is the cost of 
drying it out. 

Our lead contains no water. We dry it 
out. 

Pigments and colors in oil are more than 
often adulterated. We do not mean that they 
cannot be got full-strength; they can. Our 
own are full-strength. There are colors in oil 
reduced to one-fifth of full strength by 
barytes,t and no one can tell them from 
colors full-strength without testing them. 
One-fifth lampblack mixed with four-fifths 
barytes, looks as black as all lampblack. 

Paint-stores often keep two or more grades 
of colors in oil, one line with the maker's name 
on the label, the other with some fictitious 
name on the label. The colors bearing the 
maker's name are up to that maker's standard, 
whatever that is ; the ones with fictitious 
names are probably half to four-fifths barytes. 
The only use of barytes in colors is to adul- 
terate. 



* Flat means without gloss, 

t Pronounced ba-ry-teez. It does no good. It is used 
in the place of the pigments because it is cheap. 



25 

Suppose you want a certain amount of a 
certain gray paint, and your formula calls for 
one pound of pure lampblack in oil. If your 
lampblack is 50 per cent, barytes you've got 
to put in 2 lbs.; if 60 per cent, barytes, 2>^ lbs.; 
if 80 per cent, barytes, 5 lbs. You must know 
what strength your formula calls for and the 
strength of your color ; then you can compute 
how much to buy for your job. Painters get 
over the difficulty by sticking to one brand- 
it may or may not be always alike. 

Adulteration isn't confined to paint. There 
is more demand for low prices than for any- 
thing else in the world, and the easiest way 
to make them is to adulterate. Pure milk is 
landed in New York at a cost of six cents a 
quart and is retailed at three to eight cents. 
The eight-cent milk is the cheapest, the three 
cent milk is the dearest and pays the most 
profit. 

This is the way " close buyers " are served. 
There is no other way to do business, except 
so far as it is controlled by powerful makers, 
dealers and users, or by government— haven't 
yet got on so far as the latter in this country. 

A paint-store keeps a small part of one 
manufacturer's products ; another store, in 
the same town, has a few of another maker's 
products. The goods of the two stores are 
called by the same names, but are different. 
A painter buys his supplies at one of the 
stores and learns how to use them by trying. 



Example 



Another example 



They "like to be 
humbugged" 



Two or three sets 
of stuff in a store 



26 



Slender and 
doubtful 



He can't afford 
experiments 



The world has 
outgrown it 



There may or may not be good goods in both 
stores. 

Such are a painter's resources for making 
paint, and all his resources. If he is a man 
disposed to take risks, he says to himself: 
** the less my materials cost the more money 
I make," and he buys what is called cheap 
stuff. If he is a careful man, he uses the 
better grades. He is sure of his job when he 
uses his old. familiar materials only ; when- 
ever he uses anything new to him it is an ex- 
periment. No wonder good painters are slow 
to try experiments. 

Lead and oil, as a system you see, involves 
the difficulty of making paint, without know- 
ing mere than a few materials, and without 
facilities. There are doctors who know a 
dozen prescriptions and carry the stuff in a 
bag. They do their best, no doubt ; but their 
best is rarely quite right. 



Better or worse, 
and cheaper 



Done with full 
knowledge and 
ample means 



FACTORY-WORK. 

In every kind of industry, factory-work is 
better or worse than home-made or small- 
shop-made ; and, whether better or worse, it 
costs less money. 

Factory-work is done on a large scale ; all 
the knowledge, there is, is available for it ; 
steam and machinery do the drudgery ; even 
the labor employed is more of the mind than 
of body ; the product is such as the maker 
chooses to make ; the costs are low ; and the 



27 

lower the prices, the larger the output and 
profit. It is the progress of civilization in 
business. 

The making of paint is a good illustration 
of it. The best and worst paint are both 
made in great works, and made for less money 
than painters can make them for. 

What shall a painter do about it ? Stating 
the question answers it. Evidently the 
making of paint no longer belongs to the 
work a painter can do to advantage. 

SECRET PAINTS. 

For fifty years, the world has been increas- 
ingly full of secret paints and medicines. 
Some are better than others, of course ; but 
one does not quite like to risk a paint or med- 
icine made by a man in the dark. 

There is a great deal of money in paint: 
we suppose $100,000,000 a year in the United 
States. A good deal of it goes for paint that 
nobody knows the materials of— many mil- 
lions a year for bogus paint— and the worse 
it is, the shorter time it lasts, and the sooner 
the houses need painting again. 

We have heard it said that the biggest part 
of the cost of a bottle of medicine is, some- 
times, the bottle. Paint is made the same 
way. ' Of course, the maker don't tell what he 
makes it of. 

On the other hand, the easiest way to sell 
a good thing is to tell v,^hat it is. So, per- 



Civilization in 
business 



Economical work 



Don't try to 

compete with a 

factory- 



Apt to be quacks, 
of course 



Millions a year for 
bogus paint 



Why secret 



A quack is always 
secret 



28 



haps, it is wise to buy paints that are made, 
by responsible makers, of known and ap- 
proved materials. People generally have 
come to this conclusion. 



The old stand-by 
still necessary 



portance of zinc 



Three years' wear 
satisfactory 



WHITE-LEAD. 

Formerly lead was the only available 
white. It is still necessary, with zinc ; but 
lead is no longer used, without zinc, by 
painters who know what is going on in the 
world. 

Lead alone does not wear well outdoors, and 

yellows or darkens indoors. But the bulk of 

People haven't people, with painting to do, want lead : they 

found out the im- . - ., . ,— . r • -i r 

' • consider it genuine. Ihey are arraid of any- 
thing else : they consider it spurious. 

Lead, well put on, is good for about three 
years ; and three years has come to be an 
established standard of wear. If owners are 
willing to paint again in three years, you 
can't blame painters, for doing the work, and 
talking about it, so as to get the job. So they 
mix enough zinc with their lead to make sure 
of its wearing three years, and say nothing 
about it. 

We have before referred to the powerful 
influences, upon both painters and public, in 
favor of lead ; but they are as nothing, com- 
pared with the pressure on painters, by 
owners, for lead. ''Lead and oil is good 
enough for me " is a frequent expression 
with both. "Let a customer have what he 



A little zinc niakes 
sure of that 



Let 'em have 

what they want 



29 

wants " is common shop wisdom. ** If people 
want lead, let 'em have it, of course," is 
paint-shop wisdom. But painters are not very- 
quick to get news about paint, and thousands 
of them actually have not yet found out the (fon^t\^now yet 
effect of zinc in lead paint. We shall get to 
that soon. 

This chapter is headed ** white-lead," but Talked about more 

than painted 

has run into painters' attitude towards it. 
Which couldn't be helped. White-lead doesn't 
mean white-lead any more ; it is something 
to talk, not to paint. 

The use of lead, at the end of the nineteenth Modern use of 

lead 

century, is : to mix with zinc. We shall have 
to return to the tactics about it, after a little. 

ZINC INDOORS. 

In the common practice of painters nowa- 
days, zinc is in general use indoors ; because 
it is whiter than lead at its whitest, and stays whiter, 

white ; while lead turns yellow or black. holds colors better 

It is worth your while to notice the reason 
why lead undergoes a change in paint, and zinc constant, 
zinc does not, for its bearing on paint out- 
doors : it is chemical action. Lead is more 
ready than zinc to join in chemical action. 
Such action sets in between lead and colors 
and oil, and not between zinc and colors 
and oil. A little sulphur, that blackens 
lead paint, has no effect on zinc. There is 
sulphur enough evolved in the burning of 
gas, and sometimes in the gas that escapes 



30 



Lead unstable, 
zinc stable 



from a stove or furnace, to blacken lead paint. 
Neither sulphur, nor anything else, has any 
effect on zinc paint. 

The cause of lead's chalking outdoors is 
chemical action also ; not the same. Both 
cause and effect are different. Lead, being 
rather disposed to chemical action, chalks off 
outdoors and changes color indoors. The 
weakness of lead is its chemical instability ; 
the strength of zinc is its stability. 



An extremely 

practical 
practical joke 



Pussy gets out 



Pussy did it 



Scientist failed 



Inventor failed 



Manufacturer 
failed 



ZINC OUTDOORS. 

About fifty years ago, a first-class house- 
painter and business man, in Paris, adopted 
zinc on the sly — professing to paint lead and 
oil — and, his work was so good, he became the 
leading painter of Paris. After a while he let 
the cat out of the bag, and zinc became, to a 
large extent, the accepted paint of France. 

If he had openly offered zinc as better than 
lead, he would not have succeeded. The fol- 
lowing bits of history make this clear. 

In 1 78 1, a French chemist discovered the 
use of zinc as a pigment, and advised its 
use ; nothing came of it. 

In 1796, an Englishman claimed some in- 
vention with zinc as a pigment and got it 
patented. This woke up the Frenchman ; but 
nothing came of it. 

In 1844, a Frenchman made zinc; and, in 
1 85 1, a French company made it. The conv 



31 



pany still survives as La Vieille Montagne 
Zinc Company. 

But nothing came of it all, till the wily 
painter established himself and zinc by his 
'cute little trick : painting zinc and gettiyig it 
judged as lead. 

His name was Leclair. He died in 1872; 
five years after his death, 984 workmen, em- 
ployed by his firm, were profit-sharers with it. 
He left a moderate fortune, having preferred 
benevolence all his life. He received a gold 
medal from the Society for the Encourage- 
ment of the Arts and was decorated by the 
government, with the Grand Cross of the 
Legion of Honor, for having improved the 
practice of painters : i. e. : for that beautiful 
trick on his craft and customers. 

Such is the history. Zinc was known as 
a pigment seventy years before it got into 
use. It got into use as *' lead ;" was approved 
as " lead;" won success and celebrity, first, as 
" lead ;" then came to its own. 

But this was all-zinc ; and our painters 
agree that all-zinc will not stand out-doors : 
it is too hard : it is apt to crack and peel off. 
This seems at first to put doubt on the tale ; 
but, as often happens, a little further inquiry 
explains the discrepancy. 

We use linseed oil in paint. The French 
use poppy oil. It was zinc and poppy oil 
that Leclair won his victory with. One is 
about as good as the other perhaps ; but lin- 



Painter and pussy- 
did it 



Leclair 



Redouly Valme 

et Cie 

successors 



Same in the United 
States, only slower 



A discrepancy 



Linseed and 
poppy oils 



32 



Poppy tempers 
zinc 



Lead tempers 
zinc 



French and 
American paint 
are about alike 



seed dries harder than poppy, makes harder 
paint. With linseed oil, we soften zinc by 
adding sufficient lead. 

Do you remember ? We said the modern 
use of lead is to mix with zinc. That is 
clearer now. We can't use poppy oil, because 
our tariff makes it too costly. This illus- 
trates another point : that paint must be 
cheap. But, luckily, linseed oil and zinc, with 
a little lead, appears to be as good a paint as 
poppy and zinc, without au)^ lead. 



Better than lead 



Particulars 



The practice of 
painters 



Hardest wear 
on paint 



LEAD AND ZINC. 

It is abundantly clear, from the foregoing, 
that lead and zinc is better than lead alone : 
wears longer, is whiter, stays so, and holds 
colors better. 

The next question is : what proportions ? 
and next : how mix them ? Is there any 
better way than the painter's paddle and 
tub? 

Some painters mix half lead and half zinc, 
but, so far as we know their personal prac- 
tices, few are inclined to use more than 
twenty or thirty per cent, of zinc. We have 
two sources of information as to the average 
usage of painters : their buying supplies and 
private talk with us and our agents ; their 
public talk at conventions. 

No other exposure is quite so hard on 
paint as that at the seashore. Salt and sand 
are destructive there ; salt in damp weather ; 



33 



and sand, when wind-storms drive it against 
the buildings, cuts paint, as a blast of sand 
cuts glass.* 

For the lighthouse service the United 
States Government requires three-quarters 
zinc and one-quarter lead for white paint, 
which is enough lead to soften the zinc. 

In making our read^^-made paint, we have 
not changed our proportions for many years. 



U. S. Lighthouse 
service 



Our proportions 



SUCCESS OF ADULTERATED LEADS. 



Return, a minute, to secret paints, to account Secret paints 
for their very large sale, in spite of barytes 
and worse. And we ought to have had a 
chapter on secret leads — there are numerous secret leads 
brands of '' lead " with fancy names, such as : 
Lzon Lead, Cornet Lead, etc. No one of these 
''leads" that bear such names — not the 
maker's name, not the actual maker's name — 
is actual lead. They are mixtures of lead 
and something else, and that something else Aii contain barytes 
is largely barytes — generally, not always. 
Adulterated leads are sold for less money 
than genuine leads. They have every other 
sign of discredit; but they have succeeded 
far beyond what is usual with adulterated 
goods. 

The reason of these successes is that many 
of these irregular paints and leads yield 
better results in use, than regular leads. Lead 

* Engraving on glass is done by sand blast. The sand 
cuts glass as a knife cuts wax. 



Some have been 

successful, 

nevertheless 



They deserved 
success 



34 



Zinc was the 
saving of them 



Bogus sometimes 

better than 

genuine 



Zinc accounts for 
the wear 



and oil is the regular lead. All these off 
leads contain zinc ; and the zinc is what saves 
them — some of them. Bogus is better than 
genuine lead when bogus is right and genu- 
ine wrong; and the bogus is so far right in 
containing zinc; and the ** genuine lead" 
(pure lead) is wrong in containing no zinc. 
Zinc explains the success of successful 
adulterated leads. 



DEVOE LEAD AND ZINC. 

The material of it Our ready-made paint is named Devoe Lead 
and Zinc, and is made of dry white-lead and 
dry white-zinc ground together in linseed oil, 
and reduced by linseed oil to the thinness of 
paint. This forms the most durable paint 
now known. When the lead and zinc are 
thoroughly ground together in oil, and re- 
duced by oil to the proper consistency, tur- 
pentine dryer and pure colors are added for 
tints. 



Importance of 
being right 



Rubbery coat with 

its root-like fibres 

extending into the 

wood is dried oil 



THE RIGHT MATERIALS. 

The Devoe materials — see last chapter for 
what they are — are right. The importance 
of their being right will appear from a few 
words on other materials commonly used in 
paint — next chapter. 

The object of paint is to form a rubbery 
coat on the wood. This coat is dried oil. A 
part of the oil soaks into the wood ; a part re- 
mains on the surface. It dries and forms 



35 

this rubbery coat, with root-like fibres extend- 
ing into the wood. If this rubbery coat with 
its fibres extending into the * wood and 
anchored there is perfect, the paint is per- 
fect : water can't get through it. 

The clinging strength of paint depends on ^he waterproof 
this rubbery coat of dried oil, with its anchor- 
age, also dried oil : entirely on oil : not at all 
on the pigment. The pigment only shelters 
the oil from wear outside, as sand and gravel 
and stones, in the bed of a stream, take the 
wear of the stream, from its actual bed. 

The wear depends on oil and pigment : on is covered by 

^ .. ^ . ^ , shingle of pigment 

oil alone underneath ; on oil and pigment out- 
side. So long as the oil holds fast, the pig- 
ment is held to its work : as stones in a 
stream are held to the bottom by weight, and 
shingles are held on a roof by nails. And, 
so long as the pigment is there and is 
sound, the oil underneath is protected from 
water and wear. 

We could cheapen the oil two-thirds and ^hm coat^and 
the pigment three-quarters, and make a great 
deal of money— at first. The country is full 
of such paints and dealings. Or we could 
cheapen a little ; still make better paint than 
the average ; have more margin on it ; give 
dealers more profit ; put more expense on the 
selling ; and leave the way open for somebody 
else to make the best possible paint. 

We prefer the slower and surer course ; to Best possible paint 
make the best possible paint ourselves. 



36 



ADULTERANTS. 



Extravag-ant 
every way 



Water the worst 



Petroleum 
nearly as bad 



Simply cheating 



The first thought about adulterants is : if 
costs twice the money to sell poor stuff : 
adulterations are dear. Adulterated paint is 
trebly expeUvSive : costs more at first, not 
going so far ; costs more by the year, wearing 
out so soon ; costs more in damage to build- 
ings — lets in water before you suspect it. 

The worst adulteration of paint is by 
water.* Linseed oil will take in forty per 
cent, of water, with alkali. This makes soap ; 
good-for-nothing in paint. The soap dries 
out and leaves the rubbery coat of oil too 
thin and poor ; you painted mostly with soap 
and not much oil. The gloss soon goes; 
there may not be any gloss, in fact. 

Petroleum also is used with linseed oil, in 
ready-made paints. The effect is about the 
same as that of water alone. It would never 
dry, itself ; but an oil, that appears to dry, is 
made with petroleum. Does not really dry : 
in a week you can rub it off into dough-like 
crumbs with your finger. You can't dry 
kerosene ; that's petroleum. 

When lead and zinc are adulterated, it is 
simply cheating. But to adulterate linseed 
oil with water, petroleum and such things, 
and then use alkali to cover them up, is worse 

* It is an old saying that water and oil won't mix. Add 
an alkali and they will: but alkali kills the oil— turns it into 
soap. Women used to make soft soap by boiling together 
soap-grease and lye, and this lye is an alkali. 



Turpentine 



37 

than highway robbery. It's like taking the ^.^-fy v'^Very 
wool out of your winter clothes and then try- 
ing to keep warm. 

Painters use too much turpentine. This 
may happen with any paint. If the weather 
is cold, the paint may be too stifE, and ought to 
be thinned a little. Gets thinned too much 
and too easily. "Turps" is altogether too 
tempting to painters. It does no good what- 
ever outdoors ; the less, the better. Three- 
and-a-half per cent, of turpentine dryer is all 
we use. That is necessary, and enough. To 
add more is an injury : it all dries out in a 
few hours, and leaves so ranch less oil : your 
rubbery coat is so much thinner and weaker. 
There is no way to do good work and use less 
oil The more oil the better. 

Adulterated leads and paints are made of ll'^ii:;]'^^rf 
barytes,* whiting, china clay, terra alba and " ^' 

quartz, with enough lead and zinc to conceal 

* Barj'tes is the almost universal adulterant. You may 
like to know more about it. 

When dry, or ground in oil with a little lead, it looks 
and feels like lead, and can't be distinguished from lead. 
It costs one-sixth as much. This is why it is used, in the 
main— another reason is stated below. It has two faults 
as a pigment. 

First, it is so transparent, that, paint containing mucH 
barytes, requires an extra coat to "cover." The paint- 
maker saves perhaps $5 in making your paint and puts on 
the owner the cost of that extra coat, perhaps $60 for paint 
and labor. 

Seeond, it saves oil— prevents the use of oil enough to 
form the durable rubbery coat— and limits the wear of the 
paint. Barytes is used to adulterate pigments that cost even 
less than itself, because of its saving oil. The profit is made 
on the saving of oil. 



alba, quartz 



No body 



Outrageous 



Not so bad 



Colors in oil 
adulterated— why 



38 

these things, which have weight and bulk, bnt 
no covering body. They are put in for 
weight when sold by the pound, and for bulk 
when sold by the gallon— to cheat. Enough 
lead and zinc is put in to present the appear- 
ance of paint in the package : to cheat. 

If you should paint with barytes, whiting, 
china clay, terra alba, or quartz, alone (with- 
out lead or zinc), you would paint a dozen 
coats and not cover : they have no covering 
property — are transparent. 

Two-thirds of the weight of some " leads," 
and three-quarters of the bulk in some of the 
ready made paints, are of these adulterants. 

On the other hand, as we said in a previous 
chapter, some adulterated leads are better 
than pure, and some adulterated paints are 
better than common painter's paint (lead and 
oil), because of the zinc they contain. You 
can't draw a line between pure and adultera- 
ted things, and call the pure J:hings good, and 
the others not. Pure is not always good ; im- 
pure is not always bad ; and, besides, there 
are degrees of goodness and badness — in paints, 
as in everything else. 

Adulterated colors in oil we have treated in 
the chapter '' Lead and Oil Difficulties ;" we 
ought to explain their existence here, though 
it is a digression. Our colors in oil are full- 
strength. They are sold all over the country, 
by one paint store in a small town, and by 
many stores in a large city: generally, of 



39 



course, the best stores. These stores do not 
buy any other full-strength colors in oil. The 
only chance for another paint-material maker 
to deal with these stores is to sell them adul- 
terated colors : they don't call them adulter- 
ated colors; they call them "colors in oil." 
They sell for half or two-thirds or three- 
quarters our prices. 

A painter goes to a store for colors ; is 
offered ours at the price for ours,* whatever 
that is ; and somebody else's for less. The 
only visible difference is : the name on the 
package. You know how easy it is to be 
taken in by a low price, and how many are 
taken in. It is the same in everything; 
everything sold is pure and adulterated, high 
and low-price. 

Now come back to our subject a minute, 
which really is the effect of adulterants. 

Suppose you are painting a house with some 
such paint as we have been talking about. 
It is said to be a ''good paint" — all paints 
are " good " in stores — and " two coats will 
probably be enough." You pay $1.25 a gal- 
lon — eight gallons a coat — $10 a coat for the 
paint, and say $20 for putting it on. 

* Very many merchants do not think it their business 
to influence people to buy good stuff and avoid poor stuff. 
They don't -want to offend them by thrusting advice on 
them. You are supposed to know what you want. If you 
ask for his best, you get it. Show that you'll take cheap 
stuff, and you get that. Whatever you want, he wants to 
sell you exactly that; no persuasion about it. 

He knows you and offers you best or middling or 
cheap, according to your habit of buying. 



Go by the name 
on the package 



We are not 
wandering 



Two examples 

out of your own 

experience 



40 



The cost is $90 



You get the two coats on : $60 for paint 
and labor. Looks good — new paint looks 
good — but you see the old paint through it. 
One more coat : $10 for paint ; $20 for labor: 



The cost is $64 



The paint that 
costs less wears 



Paint another house like it — Devoe lead and 
zinc — $1.50 a gallon. Two coats at $12 a 
coat is $24 for paint ; putting on two coats at 
$20 a coat is $40 for labor. Two coats are 
enough ; and the cost is $64. 

This is not all. The house that cost $90 



two or three times wauts painting again in two or three years — 
the stuif may peel off in six months — but the 



The three ways 
of cheating 



Go by the name 
on the package 



house that cost $64 is good for several 
years. 

We have shown you three ways of cheat- 
ing in readymade paint : ( i ) by reducing the 
oil — we have shown you several ways of 
doing it ; (2) by adulterating lead, zinc and 
colors — barytes, etc. ; (3) short measure. 
The first is the worst ; the last is least injur- 
ious. But, of course, a maker, who cheats in 
the measure, cheats in the other two ways be- 
sides; while many a maker adulterates oil 
and pigment, and covers his cheating, with 
the presumption of honest dealing, by giving 
full measure. 

You "can't go by the price in the store, at 
all. The retail prices of readymade paints, 
as likely as not, are all alike: good,' bad and 
indifferent : full-and-short-measure. Go by 
the name. 



41 



Not exact 



Can't be 



The argument 
for it 



OUR PROPORTION RIGHT ENOUGH. 

We grind lead and zinc together in oil, in 
their proper proportions. We use enough 
lead to keep the zinc from cracking and peel- 
ing, and enough zinc to keep the lead from 
chalking— powdering off. 

We can't be sure that a little more lead and 
a little less zinc wouldn't be a trifle better or 
not quite so good. The best possible mixture 
will never be known because all possible mix- 
tures will never be tried on a large enough 
scale to establish results. 

The strongest argument,' for the proportion 
we have adopted, is our experience with it. 
The next, so far as we can know, is that of 
the Government Lighthouse Service. 

SETTING UP A HIGHER STANDARD. 

The standard of wear of paint accepted by 
painters is three years. It has come down 
from the last generation ; it may be older than 
that. It came in this way. Lead and oil, at 
its best, was good for about three years. 
When zinc became known to painters, they 
put enough of it into their paint to make sure 
of its lasting three years. They tried to main- 
tain the old standard, three years; and suc- 
ceeded. 

We tried to cut loose from the old standard The new standard 
of wear altogether, and set up a new one, as 
high as possible. We have succeeded too. 
We don't know how long we ought to say our 



The old standard 



42 

paint wears. We don't like to say six years : 
we prefer to say twice as long as old-fashion 
painter's paint, lead and oil. 

THE POLICY OF IT 



Cutting- 
the business 
down to half 



We haven't done 

that and you won't 

doit 



Nobody else has 
adopted our 
standard yet 



which gives us 
the business 



You, too, will find 

your competitors 

slow 



Good work 

is the best 

advertisement 



Was it wise to cut the whole business of 
paint-making down to half, by making a paint 
to last twice as long ? Is it wise for a painter 
to cut his whole business down to half, by 
using a paint that lasts twice as long? 

There is a fallacy in both questions. If 
the whole business of making paint had been 
in our hands, perhaps we shouldn't have been 
so quick to reduce it to half ; and, if the whole 
business of painting your neighborhood is in 
your hands, perhaps you had better keep on 
with your three-years paint. 

Not so. The business of making paint, in 
the United States, was divided among about 
50,000 makers by hand and 800 makers by 
steam and machinery. We could afford to 
cut the whole business to half, to get our 
share of that half. And so of your neighbor- 
hood painting now. It is divided among 
more painters than you can count ; and you 
can afford to cut your neighborhood painting 
to half, to get your share of that half. 

Besides, improvement is in the air ; and the 
safest business is that which is quickest to 
catch the improvements and get the benefit of 
them. The maker, who makes the best paint, 
will have the most paint to make ; and the 



43 

painter, whose job looks best and lasts longest, 
will have the most painting to do. There is 
great competition down at the bottom of 
everything : plenty of business and work at 
the top. And ''top" means doing one's best 
for one's customer : we for ours, you for your's. 



and varnish 



GRINDING PAINT BY MACHINERY 

Painters used to buy dry lead, and grind it oid times in paint 
in oil by hand; they had to; there was no 
lead, ground in oil, to be got in any other way. 
They ground it as well as they could, and bore 
the expense and inconvenience. They used 
to make their own varnishes also, as well as 
they could ; and had to put up with what they 
could make. There was no such business as 
varnish-making, except the tramp with his kit. 
There was no such varnish, then, as is com- 
mon now ; and little was made. But now the 
business of varnish-making has come to great 
refinement and excellence ; thanks to the man 
who makes a business of it. And, if anyone 
wants to know about varnish, the source of 
the knowledge is, not painters, not text-books 
or schools, but the factory. Writers of text- 
books, and teachers in schools, have no means 
of developing knov^ledge on technical sub- 
jects; the factory has. 

Same way with paint. Do you imagine that 
grinders of paint by the thousand tons, with 
all the resources of science and steam and 
machinery, grind as painters used to with 



New times in 
varnish 



Factory work 

is the same 

in paint 



44 



The process 
of grinding 



boys and hand mills ? By no means ; if they set 
out to make cheap paint,they make it worse than 
a painter can ; and, if they set out to make it 
good, they make it better than a painter can. 
and costs but little But factory grinding costs very little. Ma- 
chinery does an immense amount of work in 
a day, and requires .attendance only. Ma- 
terials, weighed and dumped in on an upper 
floor, come out below, a stream of perfect pro- 
duct. The work, a factory does, is far better 
than any a painter can do. The cheating is 
not in the work. 

Consider the process of grinding lead and 
zinc. We mix, in a mixer, dry lead and zinc 
with oil enough for a paste, and grind the 
paste through a mill; then thin the paste with 
more oil to the thinness of paint, in a mixer, 
and grind the paint through a mill. 

Our mixer mixes ten times as intimately as 
the painter's paddle ; and the two grindings, 
first of the paste and then of the paint, not 
only reduces the pigments to powder, but 
carries the mixing to a degree of intimacy, in 
which the paint is almost as if it were made of 
one material. 

There is a long hard word, that describes 
the effect of grinding: it makes the paint 
homogeneous : of one kind. Not merely one 
drop like another drop, but the millionth part 
of a drop like another millionth part of a 
drop : a millionth part of a drop is a uniform 
mixture of lead and zinc and oil. 



Mixing and 
grinding, too 



Homogeneous 
paint 



45 



You see how fine this grinding is : beyond 
seeing or feeling. The paint is of different 
nature from paint that is mixed with a stick. 
If kept some months in its package, the pig- 
ment settles and leaves the oil on top; but 
stirring restores it. The lead and zinc never 
part: the effect of the grinding is not im- 
paired. 

We grind j-our lead and your colors in oil; 
but most of you painters have so far done your 
own mixing. Of course, you don't trust us 
for your entire materials, and distrust us for 
finished paint : you haven't got round to it 
3^et. We have helped your business by doing 
part of the work or making your paint ; we 
shall help you more by doing the rest, when 
you are ready. 

There is more money for j^ou in varnish 
now, since we make it for 5^ou, than when 
you made it 3^ourself. There is more money 
for you in paint, since we grind your colors 
and lead in oil. There will be still more, 
when we finish your paint. 

When you want a varnish for a particular 
use, you buy it from us by name. You know 
all about it — except what is in it and how it is 
made — you know how it works and wears: 
you know exactly what to expect of it. 

Why do you buy your varnish from us com- 
plete, and your paint three-quarters complete ? 
The same motive exists for buying ready- 
made paint as for varnish. You know you 



produced by- 
two grindings 
and mixings 



You are used to 
this 



not to this 



More money in it 
for you 



You buy varnish 
complete 



Why buy paint 

three-quarters 

complete 



46 



Effect of zinc 
ground in 



It affects the 
rubbery coat 
all through 



can't make varnish: you don't know you 
can't make paint. You don't know the imr 
portance of grinding. 

Devoe lead and zinc wears twice as long as 
your paint. The reason is we use zinc and 
lead and grind them thoroughly together, 
which you can't do. 

We are artists' material-makers — every 
American artist uses our colors — we know 
what grinding is for. They formerly bought 
dry colors and oil, and ground them together 
on a slab with a muller. But we got their 
confidence years ago. We might say that we 
started at the top of the ladder. We started 
with the most critical people — the artists. 
There are no more critical people in the world 
than artists. We are now going to get the 
confidence of the painters — equally critical 
and difficult to please — but we feel certain of 
success. 

When you see fresh paint, that is rough on 
the surface, j^ou know it was not well ground ; 
you go by the look and touch. We mean a 
thousand times finer than that. It affects the 
rubbery coat all through, and the wear of the 
paint : not the surface alone. 



Uniform colors 
cost you nothing 



GETTING YOUR TINTS. 

With Devoe lead and zinc you get your 
tints exact and uniform. All j'-ou've got to 
do is to stir it. One package the same as an- 
other. Go by the color-card. Order your 



47 

paint by the numbers against the colors. ^^f^^^J^^^'"^^ 

Mixing your own, you know how hard it is mixing 

to match samples. You may or may not 
know what colors, certainly not how much of 
a color, to use ; you try a good many experi- 
ments. Quite a job to produce the tint you 
want ; and, when you've got it, may be you 
know how you got it ; and may be that's the 
best way to get it — probably not. Then if 
you find you haven't made quite enough for 
your job, can you make another batch to ex- 
actly match the first? You may take the 
easier way and mix by a formula. May be the doS^^erem 
color you get is good enough ; may be it isn't. 

HOW DURABLE ARE THEY? 

With Devoe lead and zinc, the tints last More than in 

. , other paint 

longer, because we use the right colors, be- 
cause the paint lasts longer; they also last 
longer, because they are not affected by zinc 
as they are by lead ; the less lead there is in 
the paint, the less the tints are affected by it ; 
and grinding makes colors more durable. 

EASE OF PAINTING. 

Devoe lead and zinc is about the same, as Devoe 

to flowing under the brush, as lead and oil: iseasyenoug 
one tires the painter as much as the other : 
he doesn't know which he is painting. 

It seems a paltry subject for a chapter on 

. , , ' ^ • .' No paint that is 

house-pamtmg : whether a pamt is tiresome : hardonthepaintei 

. ' . Ti • ij. TTT J could get into 

the strain on your wrist. It isnt. Weve general use 



48 

got to take the world as it is. If a paint is 
hard on the painter, he don't like it, and won't 
use it: he'll put turpentine in it. Good 
painter or not, good man or not, it makes no 
difference. Paint, to be used, must flow as 
easy as usual under the brush. 

THE SKILL REQUIRED. 

A ijainter may skip We address the reader, as suits our pur- 

if he wants to .. . , ,. 

pose, sometimes as a painter, sometimes as 
owner, sometimes as both owner and painter — 
amateur painter. Now, if you please, as 
a home-made painter. But painters may 
read — we rather like them to know what sort 
of advice we give to a man, who is thinking 
of doing his own painting. 
Anybody can paint He cau do it ; somctimcs cvcu womcu paint 
pine their kitchen and bed-room floors. But they 

find it a difiicult, tedious and tiresome job; 
and probably more appreciative of painters' 
services afterward. Whether it pays, to do 
your own painting, depends on circumstances. 
If you have to do it, or do without it, of 
course it pays ; if not, set a painter at it. 
It is not Painting is delicate technical work, as well 

easyajo ^^ tiresomc. Good painting will always be 
done by experienced painters ; bungling work 
will always be done by the inexperienced — 
painting as well as shoemaking. Painting is 
not so easy a job, in either sense of the word, 
as to tempt a man, especially woman, to do it 
a second time. 



49 



We cannot supply the skill to do a good 
job, or the knack to make money by it. A 
man, who does his own painting, by no means 
saves all the monQj he keeps from his neigh- 
bor the painter; he pays himself, instead 
of the painter; but, if he reckons his time 
and strength and clothes, he may find he is 
working for lower wages than he would take 
from another employer for less disagreeable 
work. 

There is, however, a great deal of painting 
done, where there is no painter ; or, what 
amounts to the same thing, where there is no 
money to pay him. It is a great good to be 
able to paint your house, without the advan- 
tage of having a painter to do it. We give 
pretty full and exact instructions for doing 
the work on our color-card, and the paint in 
the keg or can is exactly right. You have 
only to see that the house and the weather are 
dry — you can manage the weather as well as 
anybody — and follow instructions. 

But people differ so much. You know how it 
is with boys : they like their own ways. You 
send a boy on an errand; he does it some- 
how, unless he forgets it. A man is worse 
than a boy: he ** knows" so much more. We 
print most careful instructions for painting. 
May be you read them ; may be you don't. 
May be you follow them; may be you '" know 
how to paint" and don't. The boy forgot; 
which is right for a boy — he ought to forget 



Consider 

both sides 

of the question 



But you can do it 



Follow 
instructions 



You know boys 
Do as they do not 



50 



Follow 
instructions 



Follow 
instructions 



Will you do it 



a good deal that he hears. But you, with 
the printed instructions before you, don't dust 
or scrape the old paint, don't putty the nail 
holes and cracks, don't prime with plenty of 
oil and a little good paint, don't stir your 
paint enough or often enough, don't brush it 
out thin enough, don't wait long enough be- 
tween coats, don't wait long enough for the 
water to dry out after a dew or fog or frost or 
rain, don't keep your paint and brushes clear 
of dust; and so, all through, you "know 
how to paint" and take your chances. 

You want to know what your chances are. 
We don't know, because we don't know the 
extent of your ignorance, where you imagine 
you know it all. It is like guessing what 
sort of a game of checkers a stranger will 
play. We go so far as this : we want our 
paint to make a good job wherever it goes; 
and we'd rather you'd leave it alone than 
monkey with it. 

What we have been talking about is will, 
not skill ; but the usual disposition to have 
one's own way, in a matter he knows but 
little about, is much worse than a little 
awkwardness. 

One can do a fair job of painting without 
much skill, if he follows instructions. 



This is for painters 
but owners 
may read it 



THE RISK OF A JOB. 

Nothing smoothes the way to a bargain like 
saying : " I'll take the risk of the job." You 



51 



often warrant a job to stand three years. A 
warrant ought to be something definite. What 
does it mean "to stand three years?" It is 
foggy now ; in three years it will be much 
more so. The owner will be ashamed to 
complain of the job, in three years ; and you 
will be likely to think it has stood three 
years. 

We offer you something better to say than 
that. We have always had pretty close rela- 
tions with painters : have made your 
materials. Now we propose still closer: we 
take all risk of the paint. 

There are 50,000 of you, in the United 
States ; do we mean to warrant the work of 
50,000 strangers ? No ; but we take all risk of 
the paint. We can't expect to distinguish 
exactly between the risks that belong to the 
paint and those that belong to the work ; we 
have to do more than we promise, or seem to 
be doing less sometimes. The only way to 
be just is to be a little generous. We are ac- 
customed to taking the risk of your work in 
this way : if a job turns out good, it brings 
you business ; if bad, you satisfy your cus- 
tomer somehow or lose not only his business 
but other business as well. When you mix 
your own paint, you take the risk of it, 
whether you mean to or not. 

If you paint Devoe Lead and Zinc you are 
protected by this : 

'* Send it to your State chemist ; if he finds 



We take all risk 
of the paint 



You'd have to 
if we shouldn't 



See how we do it 



52 



This means 
anybody 



This means 

whoever buys 

the paint 

You get all the 

business there is 

by the means 



You get a good job 
or damages 



Such cases occur 



it adulterated, we will pay his bill, and you 
$ioo." 

You are also protected by this : 

"If you have any fault to find with this 
paint either now in putting it on, or hereafter 
in the wear, tell your dealer about it. We 
authorize him to do what is right at our ex- 
pense." 

And " you " means painter or owner, which- 
ever buys the paint. 

See what a position this puts you in, Mr. 
Painter. You tell your customer : " I shall 
use Devoe lead and zinc, the best and most 
durable paint there is. You may buy it, or I 
will. The merchant who sells it (you call 
him by name, for he is your customer's 
neighbor as well as yours) is authorized by 
Devoe, in case of complaint, to do what is 
right at Devoe's expense — to settle the claim 
— not to send it off to New York and wait for 
reply — to settle it. That means cash. No, it 
don't. It means a good job. I shall do my 
part." 

And see, Mr. Owner, what a position it puts 
you in. If you get a poor job, the man who 
bought the paint, whether you or your painter, 
says to the merchant, our agent, who sold it : 
" Here's a poor job of Devoe ; I want what is 
right." And the merchant pays it. This 
happens sometimes. It is not an imaginary 
case. If the fault is clearly the painter's, 
the merchant refers you to him of course ; if 



53 



not, he asks : " How much, do you think, I 
owe you ?" Both sides are fair, and the case 
is settled. 

It costs him nothing ; he has a good ad- 
vertisement ; so have we. The probability is 
that the paint was perfect. We paid for the 
doubt. There is no reproach on anybody. 
You, who complained, and to whom a fault 
was acknowledged by paying damages, try it 
again. You believe, even more than before, 
in the maker and seller as well as the paint. 
The news gets about ; Devoe is the paint in 
your town. The people and painters all want 
it. 

Devoe lasts twice as long ; but more paint- 
ing is done there than ever before, because 
standards are higher — people care more for 
the looks of their buildings. The town is 
richer, and shows it. See what a position we 
all are in. It costs us $io, $20, $50, may be 
$100, to pay your loss ; and we have every 
man in the tovv^n as a friend. 

All this supposes that nobody tries to cheat. 
It is honest business all round. A rosy view. 
Our agent has got to look out for false 
claims, for his own protection as well as ours. 
When a job goes wrong, there is generally no 
difficulty in tracing the cause of its going 
wrong. 

It is nothing new, to warrant our paint : we 
have done it for years ; without getting the 
benefit of it, because we have done it privately. 



No harm done 
to anyone 



Good business 
all round 



More painting 
than ever for you 



More business 
for us 



We don't mean 
to fool away money 



It is wisdom 



54 

Still, we have done it enough to be able to 
say that it works as stated : it gives us the 
business wherever our system is known ; and 
it is our own fault, if it isn't known every- 
where. 

THE painter's interest. 

^bSnlssman^ Which would you rather do, Mr. Painter: 

buy lead, zinc, oil, turpentine dryer and 
colors ; mix as you can ; and take your 
chance ? or buy Devoe, get exactly the tints 
your customer wants, get twice the wear, be 
safe yourself, and have your customer safe — 
for less money ? 

It makes you more of a business man than 
you used to be. 

OF ALL THE READYMADE PAINTS. 

Only one is best Devoc is the oue that is pure, full-measure 
and right. There are in the United States 
about eight-hundred paint manufacturers, 
making millions of gallons a year of paint 
of various grades, from thoroughly bad to 
thoroughly good. 

Short-measure In some localities, they are all short meas- 

ure as well as adulterated : in others, full 
measure and adulterated. What we mean by 
right is : made of the right materials. Wrong: 
of the wrong materials. 

Devoe is full measure — measure it and 
satisfy yourself. Devoe is not adulterated. 
You can't prove this yourself, but a chemist 
can : 



55 
Here's the proof : 

Willis G. Tucker, M.D., 

Professor of Inorganic and 
Analytical Chemistry. 

Chemical Laboratory of the 
Albany Medical College. 

Albany, N. Y., Feb., 3d, 1899. 

I have lately bought in the open market a sealed 

package of F. W. Devoe & Co.'s " Pure Lead & Zinc 

Paint," and have subjected it to a chemical analysis 

with the following results : 

I find that the paint is made only of pure white 
lead (carbonate of lead), pure white zinc (oxide of 
zinc"), pure linseed oil, pure turpentine dryer, and 
pure tinting colors. 

The paint contains no adulteration in any form. 
Signed, 

WILLIS G. TUCKER, M.D., 

Prof. Inorg. and Anal5''tical 
Chemistry, Albany Medical 
College. 

The above certificate of analysis was issued by Prof. 
Willis G. Tucker, Official Chemist to the State of 
New York. 

One of the best of these paints has barytes a strange business 
for lead — no lead in it — barytes and zinc. No lead in it 
The barytes tempers the zinc, and the paint 
wears fairly well. It is the same as Devoe, 
except that it has barytes for lead. Two 
coats of this paint are exactly equal to one of 
Devoe. What a foolish business it is to make 
paint, that is otherwise good, but requires an 
extra coat ! And yet that barytes and zinc is 
a more economical paint than the old lead 
and oil, because it wears longer. 



56 

PAINTING AND MAKING PAINT. 

Your business The business of painting belongs to paint- 

ers, because they do it better than anybody 
else, and at fair prices. The business of 
Our business making paint belongs to us, because we do it 
better than anybody else, and at fair prices — 
less than painters can make lead and oil for, 
and for as little as other paint manufacturers 
make inferior paint for. 
Common interest This is the way to owu a business : to do it 
better than anybody else, and at fair prices : 
so that your customers want you to own it. 

OUR TITLE TO CONFIDENCE. 

An old, good name Our busiucss began in 1754, and has con- 
tinued without a break one-hundred and 
forty-five years. So far as we know, it is the 
oldest business in New York, and there are 
only four older businesses in the United 
States. 
Our business It is the oldcst, and has been, perhaps 

always, the largest business, in paints and 
varnishes, in the United States — we presume 
in the world. 

We know our work We have about all the resources there are 
in existence for making improvements, as 
may appear from two circumstances. We 
have, as customers, many concerns that use 
their own scientific and practical knowledge 
in buying supplies. We furnish the paint, 
for instance, for most of the railroad, 
steamer and lighthouse property. 



57 



Devo© is pur© 



All these things would afford but little We value the trade 
^ . of tue people 

assurance to painters and property-owners, if 
we were engrossed by large transactions and 
careless of small. We are not. We especially 
seek the trade of the better class of paint- 
stores all over the country. 

Devoe lead and zinc is pure. Whoever 
wants to be assured of the purity of it may 
send an original package to his State chemist 
for analysis. If found adulterated, we will 
pay the expense and $ioo to the inquirer. 

Whoever uses this paint, and finds it any- 
way short of his proper expectations, either 
at once in the painting or afterward in the 
wear, may go to the merchant, from whom he 
bought it, and get what the merchant con- 
siders due. We authorize him to pay it, 
without consulting us. 



We insure 
satisfaction 



Pay damages 
if there are any 



XfS 



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